The Role of the Classroom in College Student Persistence

This issue brings into sharp focus the complex role college and university faculty play in shaping the persistence and departure decisions of undergraduate students. The authors review practices ranging from curricular structures and instructional staffing policies to faculty teaching methods, and they offer recommendations for many common problems.

Topics discussed include:

1. Curricular Learning Communities and Unprepared Students: How Faculty Can Provide a Foundation for Success
2. Promoting Persistence and Success of Underrrepresented Students: Lessons for Teaching and Learning
3. Closing the Gate: Part-Time Faculty Instruction in Gatekeeper Courses and First-Year Persistence
4. Effective Instruction and College Student Persistence: Some New Evidence
5. The Role of Active Learning in College Student Persistence
6. Classroom Practices at Institutions with Higher-Than-Expected Persistence Rates: What Student Engagement Data Tells Us
7. Toward a Scholarship of Practice Centered on College Student Retention

Taken together, the chapters outline the elements of a scholarship of practice centered on keeping students in school. College and university presidents, chief academic affairs officers, academic deans, directors and staff members of campus-based centers for teaching, and individuals responsible for enrollment management will find a great deal of practical wisdon in this volume.

This is the 115th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Teaching and Learning, which continues to offer a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and on the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers.

JOHN M. BRAXTON is professor of education in the Higher Education Leadership and Policy Program at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee.